Head liner matching and supporting strip



P 1959 L. E. STAHL 2,903,298

HEAD LINER MATCHING AND SUPPORTING STRIP Filed June 25, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

lu akuvfi HTTOk/WSKS P 8, 1959 L. E. STAHL 2,903,298

HEAD LINER MATCHING AND SUPPORTING STRIP Filed June 25, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 YE-Q 5 INVENTOR.

2,903,298 HEAD LINER MATCSHING AND SUPPORTING Lloyd E. Stahl, Monroe, Mich., assignor to Woodall Indnstries, Incorporated, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application June 25', 1958, Serial No. 744,435

3 Claims. (Cl. 296-137) This invention relates to an improved head liner matching and supporting strip adapted to assist in supporting and maintaining head liner panel sheets in position underneath the roof of an automobile body.

The strip is of the general character disclosed in my Patent No. 2,823,951 dated February 15, 1958. In such patent, matching and supporting strips are shown as holding fiber composition board panels upwardly against the underside of the roof of a motor car.

The strips shown in such patent are formed in two detachable cooperating sections, one a base section and the other a cap section. The cap sections are identical but the base sections shown in such patent are of two kinds.

One base strip is a strip that is preformed for the particular car and location in the car in which it is to be used. The other base strip is one that has end portions provided with a succession of transverse slots which facilitate bending of such end portions into the curvature desired to fit the underside of an automobile roof. In the last-mentioned embodiment of strip, the intermediate portion between the slotted ends is a continuous length.

This invention relates to improvements in the slotted form of the base section strip shown in the. aforesaid patent.

An object is to provide a strip wherein the danger of the strip buckling throughout a slotted portion due to one segment formed by a slot overlapping an adjacent segment on the opposite side of the slot is minimized.

When the slots extend normal to the linear center line of the strip as shown in the aforesaid patent and the slotted length of the strip is'bent to the desired curvature and due to such bending, the opposite edges of the slots are moved toward or into engagement with each other, one edge of a slot may be displaced so as to move over or under the opposed edge of the slot. Such might occur if the strip were carelessly formed or bent and if such does occur, it permits buckling of the strip.

If the strip buckles the curvature of the desired arc is not maintained and the plastic cap which is associated with the base to form the strip will not properly engage the base and the panels will not be properly supported by the strip. If the slotted portion of a strip buckles due to such an occurrence, the strip fails to serve its intended purpose and must be replaced.

Another object is to provide a strip of the character described wherein the slots formed in a determined length of the strip to facilitate bending are so formed that the desired curvature may be obtained with a minimum number of slots and such curvature is more accurately obtained than with slots which extend transversely of the strip normal to its longitudinal center line.

Another object is the provision of a strip of the character described wherein the slots are so formed that overbending of the strip is minimized.

Another object-is the provision of a strip of the character set forth wherein that portion of the strip adapted to be bent to establish a determined curvature is provided 1 States Patent ce with a succession of generally transverse spaced-apart 2,903,298 Patented Sept. 8 1959 slots which slots extend across the strip at an angle other than a right angle with respect to the longitudinal center line of the strip, whereby segments formed by the slots are caused to be brought into end-to-end engagement without danger of being moved into overlapping relationship.

When the slotted length of the strip of this application is bent to close the slots together to form the desired arc of curvature, a slot will close together in flush engagement of its opposite edges substantially midway between the ends of the slot and substantially along the linear center line of the'strip. However, on opposite sides of the linear center line, opposite edges of the slot are displaced in opposite directions whereby these opposite edges of the slot cross each other, and are disposed relatively angularly with respect to each other and are thereby prevented from moving into overlapping relationship.

Other objects, advantages, and meritorious features will more fully appear from the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan of a fragment of an end portion of the base part of a strip embodying the invention and showing the same prior to being bent into an arcuate curvature;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the fragment of strip section shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a generally transverse sectional View through the strip section shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and taken through one of the slots;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through an end portion of a strip section such as shown in Fig. 1 but showing such portion bent to a determined curvature;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4 and partly broken away and somewhat exaggerated as hereinafter described for purposes of illustration;

Fig. 6 is a plan of a strip similar to Fig. l but showing a modified form of the base section of the strip;

Fig. 7 is a transverse cross sectional view through the roof of an automobile body with the supporting strip shown partly in section and showing how the same is used;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the same line as Fig. 7 but enlarged and showing the end portion of the complete strip; and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken transversely across the strip.showing its method of employment with panels supported thereby.

In the drawings the first six figures are designed to bring out the improvement of the invention of this application and show merely the base portion of the strip to which this invention pertains. The complete strip itself is a two-part strip and such is shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 and in these figures the use of the strip in association with head liner panels is illustrated to clarify the invention and disclose a complete strip.

As described in the aforesaid patent, these strips are associated with the underside of the roof of a motor vehicle and employed to support and hold in alignment head liner panels which underlay the roof. The panels themselves, which may be formed of suitable fiberboard or the like, are flexible and somewhat resilient and cut to the desired shape and are arranged as shown in said prior patent. The panels are supported and held in alignment by strips such as shown in the patent and as illustrated herein. Opposite ends of these strips are supported upon abutments which extend along opposite sides of the vehicle body below the roof.

The strips which support the panels are formed in two sections or parts. There is a base part which is formed of metal or some other suitable material and a removable cap part or section which may be formed of plastic and is shaped to be interengaged with the bae part. Between the two parts of the strip are channels within which the margins of the head liner panels are received. The panels 3 are held in alignment by the strips and are held upwardly toward the roof of the vehicle by the strips. The invention of this application relates solely to the base section of one of these strips. The general assembly is as shown in the aforesaid patent. The cap section is shown in the aforesaid patent. w N I V 7 To place the invention within its environment, however, Figs. 7, 8, and 9 will be first referred to. There is shown in Fig. 7 the conventional sheet metal automob ile roofprovided at opposite sides with a boxlike frarne portion 22. Out of'the inner wall of this boxlikeframe portion are struck lugs 24. These lugs are adapted to support opposite ends of head liner panels26. Alayer of insulation 28 is shown as adhesively secured to the underside of the metal roof 20. A molding strip 30 is illustrated as extending over the ends of the panels and panel-sustaining strips as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 V The panel-supporting and matching strips are formed in two separable sections. Thereis a base section 32 illustrated in Figs. 1-6 of the drawings which may be formed of sheet steel or the like bent into the cros s sectional configuration of a conventional railway rail as shown in Figs. 3 and 9. In other words, this railway rail configuration has a crown or a head portion 34, a web portion 36, and a base portion formed by complementary flanges 38. It may beformed of a single strip of sheet metal bent into this configuration as shown most particularly in Fig. 3. i i v Fig. 3 illustrates the undersideof each'side of the crown as provided with serrations 40 as described in my application Serial No. 630,663, filed December 26, 1956, and as also described in such application the base flanges 38 are provided with grooves 42. Fig. 3 and Fig. 1 also illustrate each slot as provided on one side with a lug 44 projecting from one edge of the slot toward the op posite edge of the slot. This lug 44 also is shown and described in my application aforesaid.

As illustrated in Fig. 9, the strip includes a removable cap section 46 which may be formed of plastic or the like and which has an inner channel portion 48 that is adapted to be received over the crown 34 of the base section and an outer channel portion 50, the edges of the side walls of which are adapted to holdpanel sheets 26 toward the base flanges 38 of the base section, all as shown and described in my patent and application here inabove listed.

The invention of this application relates to' the base section only of the strip and relates specifically to the character and disposition of the generally tranversely extending slots formed in the slotted end portions of the base section. This invention is shown only in Figs. 1-6 of this application, because Fig. 7 is Fig. 28 of Patent 2,823,951, and Figs. 8 and 9 are Figs. 8 and 6 respectively of application Serial No. 630,663 supra.

As stated in the object paragraphs hereinabove, a purpose of the invention herein claimed is to so form the slots through the crown and web portion of the base section that when a slotted length of the base section is bent to a desired curvature, the danger of one edge of a slot overlapping the opposite edge of the slot is obviated and the opposite edges of the slots come into meeting engagement.

It will appear particularly from Figs. 1, 2, and 6 that the slots which extend generally transversely of the base section of the strip extend at an angle other than a right angle to the longitudinal center line of the strip. They extend diagonally transversely across the strip. In the aforesaid patent and application the slots extend normal to the longitudinal center line of the strip; In Figs. 1, 2; and 6'; the slots are shown extending at an" angle of, say, 3035. They extend across the strip not only angularly with respect to its longitudinal center line but angularly with respect to a line drawninormal to the longitudinal center line, The diagonal line of theslot may extend at an angle of from 25 f to 50 though it is preferred to keep it within the intermediate range of 30-35.

One margin of each slot is shown in Fig. 1 as provided with a lug 44 projecting therefrom normal thereto toward the opposite edge of theslot. As set forth in the patent aforesaid, it is desirable that when the slotted length of a strip is bent to a desired curvature, the opposite edges of the slots come into meeting engagement so as to rigidify the strip throughout such arcuate portion and the presence of this lug promotes this meeting engagement. In Fig. 5 herein the lugs 44 of the segments 52 which are formed by the slots 54 are brought into meeting engagement with the opposite edges of the slots when the strip is bent through an are such as shown in Fig. 5. If the construction of Fig. 6 is used, in which there are no lugs 44, the opposite edges of the slots 54 are brought intomeeting engagementwhen the strip is bent in such a manner as to produce the desired are.

Due to the fact that theslots 5 4 which divide the segments 52 extend diagonally with respect to the longitudinal center line of the strip, or extend angularly with respect thereto and also angularly with respect to a line normal to the longitudinal center line, all as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, when aslo'tted length of the strip is bent as illustrated in Fig. 5, opposite edges of the slot are displaced angularly out of their common plane with respect to each other as shown in Fig.5. v

In Fig. 5 two adjacent segments 52 are illustrated. The view is somewhat exaggeratedand enlarged but it will be seen that the opposite edges of the slot are displaced or tilted angularly with respect to each other out of the plane of the crown of the segments. The edge of each segment at the slot is displaced in opposite directions on opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the strip such as illustrated in Fig. 5. Such is due to the angular or diagonal disposition of theslots As a result of this relative displacement, it will appear that the edges of adjacent segments at a slot cross each other and are prevented from overlapping one another and thereby the possibility of buckling of the strip throughout a slotted length is minimized. When the slots or kerfs 54 extend normal to the longitudinal center line, the edge of one segment at a slot may m ove to overlap the edge of the adjacent segment because the edges of the adjacent segments are in the same plane and relative displacement to permit such overlapping is limited. 7 With the construction herein described; the edges of the adjacent segments cross each other or are displaced angularly with respect to each other as the slotted section is bent and therefore this overlapping is prevented.

1. A head liner/ panel matching and supporting strip for a motor vehicle body roof said strip comprisin operating linear base and capsectionsand having a cross sectional shape providing two oppositely opening panel margin-receiving channel s extendingalong opposite longitudinal margins; said base section being formed of sheet metal bentalong parallel spaced-apart longitudinal lines into a configuration in cross section generally resembling the conventional railway rail having a base part, a web part, and a head part surmounting the web part; said cap section having a longitudinally extending portion channel-shaped in cross section grippingly receivable over the head part of the base section and having longitudinal portions held thereby toward the base part of the base section; said base section consisting of an intermediate portion and two end portions the head part and the web part of saidtwo portions ofthe base section of the strip being provided with a longitudinal succession of generally transversely extending spaced-apart slots rendering the end pageant flexible to be bent into an arched shape, said slots extending generally transversely of the strip' but atlari angle of .between 25 and 5 0 with respect to a line drawn normal to the transverse center line of the strip, said slots adapted to be substantially closed together when such slotted end portions are bent through a predetermined arc with respect to the intermediate portion thereby rigidifying the end portions, the head part of the intermediate portion of the strip being longitudinally continuous.

2. A head liner panel matching and supporting strip for a motor vehicle body roof provided with head liner supporting abutments along opposite margins of the underside of the roof, said strip having a cross sectional shape providing a pair of coplanar oppositely opening panel margin-receiving channels extending along opposite longitudinal margins of the strip, said strip consisting of an intermediate portion and opposite end portions, said opposite end portions provided with a longitudinal succession of generally transversely extending spaced-apart slots rendering the end portions flexible to be bent into an arched shape, said slots being at such an angle within a range of 25 to 50 with respect to the longitudinal center line of the strip that when the strip is bent into a curvature to move opposite edges of the slots toward each other, said opposite edges are displaced with respect to each other from their common plane in opposite directions on opposite sides of a longitudinal center line of the strip, said slots adapted to be substantially closed along the longitudinal centerline of the strip when said end portions are bent through a predetermined arc, and said intermediate portion being bowed in the same direction as the end portions and tensioned upwardly against the underside of the roof to conform to the curvature thereof when the end portions are supported on said abutments and said slots are substantially closed.

3. A head liner panel matching and supporting strip for a motor vehicle body roof, said strip having two oppositely opening panel margin receiving channels extending along opposite longitudinal margins and comprising two arched end portions and an intermediate portion extending therebetween and supported thereby, said arched end portions provided with a plurality of generally transversely extending longitudinally spacedapart slots rendering the end portions flexible and resilient, said intermediate portion being substantially less flexible and resilient than the two end portions, said slots in the end portions adapted to substantially close together when the end portions are bent through a determined arc whereby the end portions resist further bending to substantially the same extent as the intermediate portion, said transversely extending longitudinally spaced-apart slots extending at an angle of between and with respect to the longitudinal center line of the strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,823,951 Stahl Feb. 18, 1958 

